A man accused of shooting dead a schoolteacher was lynched by a mob in the presence of police in a village in Kushinagar district on Monday, police said.
Visuals from the spot in the Taryasujam area of Kushinagar showed a large mob assaulting the accused while a handful of police personnel were trying to control the situation. The villagers, armed with bricks and lathis, were seen preventing the police from taking away the accused who lay motionless in a bloodied state.
The unidentified accused had driven to the house of Sudhir Singh early on Monday on a scooter. He was asked to sit and served tea by the family, while Sudhir Singh was in the bathroom, said police.
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The moment Mr. Sudhir Singh stepped out, the accused pulled out a pistol and fired at him, said Kushinagar Superintendent of Police Vinod Kumar Mishra.
The family raised a cry and before the accused man could escape people from the neighbourhood gathered and surrounded him, said the officer. The accused then climbed the roof of the house from where he was firing with a loaded pistol, said Mr. Mishra.
When the police reached the spot after the locals dialled 112, they climbed the roof of an adjacent house and asked the accused to surrender, said Mr. Mishra. However, the accused fired at them and in retaliation the police fired back, said the officer.
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The accused then came down and locked himself in a room to save himself but the mob broke the door and caught hold of him, said the officer.
Before the police could come down from the roof of the other house and clear the crowd, the mob had beaten him so much that he died while being taken out, said the SP.
The reason why the accused shot the teacher is still unknown.